Striping knife



J. S. TURNER STRIPING KNIFE Oct. 3, 1933.

Filed Feb. 25. 1930 vlllvttlalll l Patented Oct. 3, 1933 STBIPING KNIFEJohn Stanley Turner, Newburgh, N. I, assignor to E. I. du Pont deNemours & Company, Wilmingto 1!, Del., a corporation of DelawareApplication February 25, 1930. Serial No. 431,138

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for striping sheetmaterial and more particularly to a method and an apparatus adapted tostripe a continuously moving sheet of coated cloth or paper.

In applying stripes for decorative purposes to sheet material having apyroxylin (nitrocellulose) or similar coating, it has heretofore beenthe practice to apply a second coating having a color different from thebase coating and then to scrape off the second coating with a knife orblade having indentations along its edge corresponding in width andposition to the stripes desired. In this method of striping the stripescomprise that portion of the second coating lying in the path of theindentations or notches. The striping has also been attempted with anembossed or serrated roller.

This invention has for an object a striping knife adapted to applycolored coating compositions of jelly-like consistency such as thosecomprised of the pyroxylin mentioned, or of other similar cellulosederivatives only along that portion of the sheet material desired to bestriped. A further object is to provide a means for varying the quantityof the striping matter deposited. A still further object is a stripingknife capable of simultaneously depositing stripes of different colors.Other objects will appear hereinafter.

These objects are accomplished by the following invention in which areceptacle having a relatively narrow elongated sheet materialcontacting portion, preferably in the form of a trough, is provided withopenings along or adjacent the contacting portion or apex of the troughwhich lead to the colored coating composition in the receptacle andthrough which it is deposited on the moving sheet material passing underand partially covering the openings, the eifective size of the openingsand consequently the amount of striping material deposited beingregulated by the tilt of the contacting portion of the receptacle.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of my improved striping knife mounted inoperative relation to the material to be striped.

Figure 2 is a section through the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the striping knife as viewed from the frontof Figure 1 or Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a view of the relatively adjustable supporting brackets.

Figure 5 illustrates a modified form of the invention and Figure 6 showsa further application of the invention with the apparatus illustrated inFigure 1.

In the drawing my improved striping knife is illustrated as being ofelongated trough like form comprising two angularly related plates orwalls 1 and 2 conveniently formed by bending a piece of sheet metal tothe proper shape. The trough or receptacle formed by the walls 1 and 2,however, may be made of heavier metal or of metal especially chosen forits wearing qualities. One or more holes forming passages 3 pass throughthe receptacle adjacent the apex of the trough for the exit of thecoating material and its deposition on the sheet material which passesunder the striping knife in the direction indicated by the arrow inFigure 2. The coating material is retained within the trough bybulkheads 5 preferably made of rubber.

The knife is mounted for tilting movement to regulate the effective sizeof the opening at the bottom of the passages 3 through which thecoloring material may flow forwardly on to the sheet material beingstriped. It will be apparent that the quantity of the coloring materialflowing out of the openings at the bottom of the passages 3 will be aminimum when the openings are completely covered by the horizontallymoving sheet material 4. As the knife is tilted, the exposed portion ofeach of the openings at the lower ends of the passages becomes larger asmore and more of the area of the openings is separated from the sheet 4and permits more of the coloring matter to flow through the passages.This forwardly directed opening between the sheet 4 and the opening atthe lower end of each passage 3 formed by the separation of the frontlower portion of the trough adjacent the apex from the paper isindicated at 51 in Figures 1 and 2.

The adjustable tilting and supporting means is shown as comprising aheavy supporting bar 6, a bracket 7 rigid therewith which is adjustablymounted on a bracket 8 forming a part of a stationary supporting meansfor the entire structure. For the sake of clearness, the supporting andtilting means are shown only at the left side of Figure 1, but it is tobe understood that similar supporting means are preferably provided ateach end of the knife. The bar 6 may be of wood and is made quite heavyto impart rigidity. The plate 1 of the knife is secured against thefront face of the bar 6 by means of screws '71 as indicated in Figure 2.The corresponding brackets for the right hand end of the bar 6 as viewedin Figure 1 are indicated by the characters 7a and 8a in Figure 3. Thebrackets 8 and 8a have supporting extensions indicated at 9 and 9aadapted to be clamped to or otherwise constitute a part of the supportfor the knife. The brackets 7 and 7a have holes 10 and the brackets 8and 8a have holes 11 for the reception of a pivot pin. The brackets 7and 7a are held in adjusted position with respect to brackets 8 and 8awithin the limits allowed by arcuate slots 111 by means of bolts (notshown) which are carried in holes 12 of brackets 8 and 8a and ride inthe slots 12, the clamping of the brackets together being effected bytightening the nuts on the bolts as will be readily understood. Thecoated sheet material 4 to be striped unwinds from a supply roll 13 andafter over the idler roller 14 horizontally beneath the knife to thewinding roll 15 to which roll a source of power (not shown) may beconnected. The knife is lowered into position until it touches the paperand bears thereon suihciently to form a slight depression or trough inthe paper along the line of contact'as indicated in Figure 2. Theextensions 9 and 9a are then clamped to any suitable supporting meanswhich preferably embodies a vertical adjustment for raising and loweringthe knife. The amount of tilt given to the knife will depend upon theconsistency of the jelly in the trough and the thickness of the jellythat it is desired to deposit. The rate of movement of the paper is alsoa factor that enters into the regulation of the apparatus. The size ofthe effective openings 51, through which the coating material flows,between the sheet 4 and the lower openings of the passages 3 formed bytilting the knife is regulated in accordance with the speed of the paperso that the paper will drag along the desired thickness of stripingjelly.

The stripes formed on the sheet material 4 as it passes beneath thestriping knife are indicated at 16 in Figure 1. The sheet material thenpasses through a drying chamber illustrated diagrammatically at 1"!heated in any conventional manner as by steam coils the inlet and outletof which is designated by the numerals 18 and 19. The dimension of thedrying chamber in the direction of movement of the sheet 3 isconsiderably larger than that indicated on the drawing where the chamberis shown as broken to conserve space. This dimension of the dryingchamber is proportioned with respect to its temperature and with respectto the rate of travel of the sheet 3 so that the freshly deposited andwet striping material is completely dried when it emerges from thedrying chamber.

While the striping knife shown in Figure 1 has a length equal to thewidth of the paper, the knife is usually of greater length so as toaccommodate papers of various widths. The removable rubber bulkheads 5are inserted within the width of the paper to prevent the coloringmatter from escaping out of the ends of the trough. If the particularstriping knife used has no holes extending beyond the paper, it is then,

of course, unnecessary that the bulkheads be positioned within the widthof the sheet 4 and they may remain at the ends of the trough beyond theedge of the paper.

My improved form of striping knife and method of applying the stripesare also adapted for the simultaneous formation of stripes of differentcolors. Several of the bulkheads 5 exactly fitting the inside contour ofthe trough may be inserted to form two or more chambers each of whichopens through one or more of the passages at the bottom of thereceptacle or trough to the sheet material 4. Each of the'chambers maycontain coloring material different from that contained in any of theother chambers or any desired arrangement of stripes of diflerent colorsmay be'made. For instance, as shown in Figure 8, two additionalbulkheads 5 are shown and the four bulkheads divide the trough intothree chambers 5' each of which communicates with one or more of thepassages 3 for the formation of differently colored stripes, the colorsof which may alternate in any desired sequence or design. Figure 6illustrates a form of the invention in which the trough is dividedlongitudinally by a partition 20 forming two chambers 21 and 22 each ofwhich communicates with openings along the apex of the trough by meansof the ducts 23 and 24. Any desired number of these ducts may pass fromeither chamber to the apex, and the openings along the apex from theducts of one chamber may alternate with or be otherwise so positionedand spaced with respect to the openings from the ducts -of the otherchamber so as to produce any desired pattern from the differentlycolored material contained in chambers 21 and 22.

My improved apparatus and method of direct deposition make possible asaving in striping material because the second coating applied beforescraping in the usual practice is necessarily wider than any of thestripes to be formed and where the sheet is first coated throughout itswidth before coating, the saving is considerable. The

stripes formed in the practice of my invention have also a definitionand sharpness not possible to obtain by the scraping method, because itis not possible for the contacting portions between the notches of theblade or knife to scrape the second coating entirely of! and thisinability to effect a clean scraped surface is aggravated by the pool ofjelly which collects in front of the blade. It is also diilicult to freea piece of lint or other foreign matter that has become lodged in anotch of the knife during the scraping operation and which prevents theproper functioning of a portion of the knife. When the striping is doneby means of an embossed or serrated roller, the edges of the stripes onsmooth sheet material are smeared'and the stripes formed on embowedmaterial are still more unsatisfactory. My improved striping knife formsstripes having clean cutedges on embossed as well as smooth goods. It ispossible with my improved device to apply stripes of two or more colorsregularly spaced in one operation and the design formed by thearrangement of colored stripes may be simple or complicated whereas bythe method previously used it was possible to apply two col ors only byapplying first one color, then chang ing the knife and afterwardapplying the second color in another operation. A complicated designcannot be produced by this meansbecause it is impossible to obtainperfect registration of the second coating with respect to the first.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may bemade without departing from the spirit thereof, it is to be understoodthat I do not "limit myself to the specific embodiments thereof exceptas defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

A striping mechanism comprising means directing a continuously movingstrip of sheet material in a substantially horizontal plane, a troughhaving openings along the apex thereof arranged transversely of saidsheet material and positioned to contact the sheet material withportions of the openings uncovered by the sheet material and presentedabove the plane thereof toward the side of the line of contact of thetrough with the sheet material in the direction of movement. of

the sheet material, and adjustable means supporting said trough operableto increase and decrease the portion of the openings covered by thesheet material.

JOHN STANLEY TURNER.

